Control is Overrated
by Barefoot XO
Summary: Saddened by his broken relationship with Willow and frustrated by his inability to maintain control of his emotions, Oz finds that his emotional control of the beast is waning fast. When he loses control in New Jersey, he comes upon a family that is not afraid of him and accepts him as family.… World 395 in the Crisis of Infinite Scoobies.
1. Losing Control

**_Control is Overrated_** ****

I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or The Addams Family. They belong to Joss Whedon and Charles Addams...

 ** _Chapter I: Losing Control…_**

"I don't know where the line is anymore…"

Leaving Willow had been the hardest thing that Oz had ever done, but he was increasingly certain that it had been necessary. With every full moon he experienced he was growing more and more restless and out of control.

Even in his human form Oz was beginning to feel the restlessness, the wildness creeping into his behaviour. He stared at the extremely rare steak that sat on the table in front of him, knowing that he would normally be unable to stomach something so undercooked and also knowing that now it had set his mouth watering. He shuddered and began to eat.

The journey from Sunnydale, California to New Jersey had been a taxing one. He had originally intended to fly there, hearing that there was a force in New Jersey that kept the local baddies in line, but that had proven impossible. The wolf had railed at the idea of being penned up in a tiny plane with no real control over what was going on. He hadn't even been able to buy himself a ticket, he had been that chilled by the idea. Instead, Oz had been forced to head across the country using whatever modes of transport had been available to him, often-times his own feet.

Still, finally he was there… And now he heard that the people had been searching for had been driven off by a bunch of locals called the Addamses. Oz felt an irrational surge of rage swell within him at the thought. Everything in him was screaming to take out his frustration on someone, anyone, else and simply get it out. Oz somehow maintained his stoic exterior and chewed down his dinner to distract himself.

The desire to act, to do something, was becoming unquenchable. He thought once more about the monks he'd heard of in Tibet, but he still could not bring himself to get on a plane. No, he would have to find some sort of cure in North America. A plane simply wasn't… it just wouldn't do. It wouldn't do at all.

Oz glanced at the calendar that hung on the wall of the diner. It was the full moon again tonight, which explained why all of his urges were so very raw. He had to find a place to lock himself away, to keep the other people safe from him. His stomach roiled at the thought of being penned in again, but he clamped down fiercely upon the sensation. He would not hurt anyone. He had to be safe.

A faint howl rent the air, causing the Addams Family to glance up from their dinner. Gomez, Fester and Pugsley grinned at the sound, looking forward to a new complication in their everyday lives; something that would hopefully drive away the humdrum that was normality.

Morticia, of course, offered a serene smile at the sound whilst Wednesday looked utterly unruffled. It was Morticia who spoke first. "I do believe there is a werewolf in the area, darling. We shall have to give it a proper welcome to the neighbourhood."

Gomez's pointed grin would have driven most of his neighbourhood screaming in terror. "Quite right, my dear. It promises to be an enjoyable time."

Somewhere within the mind of the werewolf, Oz shuddered in terror. He had just managed to free himself from the pen that he had designed to hopefully protect the locals from his alter ego. Apparently the other guy had some different ideas. Oz could only watch helplessly from the proverbial back seat as the werewolf that he had become ran free. He silently prayed that no one would be around, on this night. There was a werewolf on the prowl…

And here we go again…

Jasper


	2. Running Wild

I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or The Addams Family. They belong to Joss Whedon and Charles Addams...

* * *

 **Chapter II: Running Wild**

Oz was just barely beginning to relax a little. So far the wolf had not come across any humans or hurt anyone. He was currently thanking the Powers that he had been smart enough to build his latest cage beyond the local city limits. If he had been in the middle of the city there was simply no telling just how many casualties would have resulted from his escape. And that did not even begin to cover the potential number of new werewolves he could have produced.

It was over the course of Oz's ever-expanding prowling through the deserted side-roads and regional roads that he had come upon a strange gate with a massive A marked onto it. Oz was gravely worried on seeing that. This was the first proper home he had come across. If the wolf managed to get through the gate, then injury and infection of innocents was an ever-increasing possibility. Curiously enough, the wolf seemed strangely uncertain about whether it really wanted to enter the estate at all.

Oz had never known the wolf to feel such disquiet before. The house itself seemed to generate a certain pallor of unease that inhabited the very stones and metalwork. The wolf shuddered in perfect sync with Oz. And then, just like that, it was gone. The house, while still creeping Oz out, stopped scaring the wolf. It was almost like a switch being flipped. The wolf bared its fangs and reared back upon its hind legs, using the phenomenal strength that was stored there to jump a gate that no regular human could have managed.

Having surmounted the gate, the wolf loped casually about the grounds, exploring the new territory, looking for prey. Oz desperately tried to rein the wolf in, trying to steer it back the way the wolf had taken him. It was no use whatsoever. The wolf was determined. That was when the wolf's nostrils flared, catching the scent of flesh. Fangs were bared accordingly and the wolf lunged in the direction the scent was wafting from, following its nose to the succulent bounty that it believed awaited it.

Oz and the wolf caught sight of the girl at the same time. The wolf salivated at the sight of its potential prey, ignoring the faint tingle of instinctual warning that it was feeling. Oz desperately cried out in the wordless manner of one who is trapped, desperately trying to warn the girl of the predator that was coming at her. He too ignored the warning of his instincts, focusing his concern on the girl that had become potential prey rather then on any danger to himself.

The girl turned about at the last moment. She was far older then Oz had really thought, being at least in her late teens upon closer inspection. Still, the thing that stuck with him most was her eyes. They were dark, fathomless and fearless. She was confronted with a hungry werewolf at close range and she did not so much as flinch in shock. Instead, the faintest of smiles graced her dark red, nearly black, lips. "We were wondering when you would arrive."

The wolf's instincts suddenly lit with fear, where before the fear had been just a trickle at the edge of his senses. Oz felt it too, though the girl's attitude actually inspired more fear even then his wolf instincts. It didn't matter, neither Oz nor his alter ego was able to accomplish anything before darkness descended upon their senses, blotting out the sight of the full moon or the strange, fearless girl…

* * *

Consciousness returned slowly to Oz, emphasised by the steady pounding of the back of his head where he had almost certainly been struck by… someone. It couldn't have been the girl that the wolf had been stalking. She had been directly in front of him. He had been struck from behind.

As his head began to clear more, he began to recognise the fact that he was restrained. His arms and legs were chained at the wrists and ankles and he was lying on an uncomfortable wooden surface. He was still mostly naked after his transformation, but someone had apparently been kind enough to at least give him a pair of pants. While unhappy to be imprisoned so, he was at least happy to not be showing off his full glory for anyone who chose to enter the room.

The room itself was a dark, dank dungeon. There was really no other description to fit the place where he was imprisoned. While he wasn't able to see perfectly from his current angle, he was definitely inclined to believe that he was actually tied to a medieval torture tool known as the rack. There were times when he cursed his childhood interest in medieval times. Knowing he was on the rack was something he could have really done without knowing until the time came for it to be used. He was nervous enough without having a pretty good idea of what was going to be happening to him in the near future.

A slamming of a door called Oz's attention to a small stream of people that were entering through it. The first through the door was a swarthy-looking gentleman with a distinctly pointy grin. He was immediately followed by an incredibly pale woman, a massive mountain of a man, a stocky teenage boy, Frankenstein's monster, the girl he had seen the night before and… a disembodied hand that seemed to be operating under its own power.

The hand was what really captivated his attention. Some sort of necromantic ritual, maybe? It reminded him a bit of Buffy's botched welcome home party. Oz's stomach dropped at the thought. There was just no way that this was going to be pleasant. _'Oh boy…"_

* * *

And here is part two… In part three Oz will get to properly meet the Family Addams. May god have mercy on his soul.

Jasper


End file.
